I share the same dream. I would like to become an author as well. My story begins with a guy and a girl, trapped in a maze, with traps around every turn. They meet up with some other people within the maze and eventually find an elevator at the edge. But on the second floor they find a computer lab. They discover that they have been watched the whole time, but the actual exit was at the other side of the maze. The conductors of the experiment know this... and that is all that I have thought up now.

I think you have a pretty cool idea and i'd love to read the story in a whole

i too dream of being an author.. or at least just to make a living with my writingsi'm working on a book titled "Witches In the Attic" which should be finished by early January. Then starts the editing and publicist phase which could take into early summer. so hopefull fall 2010 my first book will be available i'll shoot ya a copy as i'm dedicating to my friends here at halloween.com

Last night 'twas witching Hallowe'enDearest; an apple russet- brownI pared, and thrice above my crownWhirled the long skin; they watched in keen;I flung it far; they laughed and cried me shameDearest, there lay the letter of your name!

Last night 'twas witching Hallowe'enDearest; an apple russet- brownI pared, and thrice above my crownWhirled the long skin; they watched in keen;I flung it far; they laughed and cried me shameDearest, there lay the letter of your name!

I'm not sure that I'm the right person to answer the question "how to write a horror story", but I have a lot of people who visit on any forums looking for advice and guidance writing horror stories. So here is the suggestion I have for those who want to learn how to wite a horror story.

If you want to learn how to write a horror story, then you should read horror stories. And you should start with the classic, and analyze them to see why they work. Some classic horror stories to consider include:

"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs

"Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker

"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe

"The Picture in the House" by H.P. Lovecraft

That's obviously just a partial list, but the good news is that those are all public domain stories that are available to read online.

My writing dream update: I'm actually writing. I met this author who has written three books. The third is coming sometime in fall I think. Anyways if it wasn't for him I'd not be writing like I am now. I'm almost done with a short story based on the Suicide Mouse legend. Even when I'm done, I got a lot of editing to go through, change stuff, delete stuff, add stuff. So I don't know when you can read it.

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,As though it were a slightly sour sweet.Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...~Nicholas Gordon

It's not easy writing a novel that is for sure. I think if I didn't work and wrote from moring to night I could finish a novel in a month . I've got a Halloween novel in the works that is fairly different. When I get a good synopsis cleared, I will have to post it. I would like to break into the horror world too, but I agree with the whole referencing problem. It is tough to find untapped material- but it is out there! Even the great horror writers drew there ideas from something- a legend, event, animal or object. I think the ideas above are cool. If there is a small reference, no big deal. It happens in many books, great ones and stupid ones alike. It just depends on the audience.

It'd been a month or two since i finished my Suicide Mouse story and I haven't edited much at all. But I always write small scenes based on story ideas I might do someday. I wrote this the other day.

The puppy had gone in the same way. Blood stained it's paws, and everything, fur, skin, eyes, were all gone from the upper half of its face. Jim turned around, and tried to leave the scene, but twisted his head back to look again at the owner of the dog. Swirling black dots of insects stuffed themselves inside of a ragged tear in his throat. His clothes and hands all had dry, brown stains. He walked back to his car, and drove off into the next town.

This is all I wrote but I made it like it was part of a whole story.

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,As though it were a slightly sour sweet.Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...~Nicholas Gordon

The thing about all these ideas is that, yes they are overdone, they have so much room for improvement. Add a twist, make the least likely person the villian.... and there you go! That is why movies are remade... to give them someones personal touch.

I never got around to doing much editing for Suicide Mouse. But I did get an even shorter story done. I want to post it but, first one question, is it rational to worry that someone might plagiarize it? I mean, it is the internet, anyone and find it and take it.

Halloween wraps fear in innocence,As though it were a slightly sour sweet.Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...~Nicholas Gordon